A Great Read about Scavenging from the Mud of the Thames

You’re listening to A Way with Words, the show about language and how we use it. I’m Grant Barrett.

And I’m Martha Barnette.

In the late 18th century, the English term mudlark was a rather grim one.

It referred to people who scavenged for usable debris in the cold, stinking, tidal mud of a river because they didn’t have any other means of income.

Today, mudlarking is more of a hobby, and it’s the subject of a book I’m really enjoying by Laura Makelum.

It’s called Mudlark, in search of London’s past along the River Thames.

It turns out that much of the River Thames is tidal,

Which means that twice a day it pulls back to reveal its secrets.

And Meclam has found all kinds of things over the years,

Everything from ancient Roman jewelry to modern engraved wedding rings.

And you’ve got to wonder how somebody lost that,

Or maybe they got angry and threw it in the river.

But there’s so much history in each one of those objects.

One of my favorite examples is the fact that she’s always finding these little clay pipes.

So I’m talking about tiny clay pipes.

And the reason they were tiny is because tobacco was initially very expensive when it was first brought to Britain.

And she also finds a lot of Elizabethan-style pins because in those days everybody was having to pin their clothes.

And she’s even found Mesolithic flints.

And Grant, I know that will appeal to you because you’ve talked before about just what that feeling must be like of picking up something that you know has only been touched by a human thousands of years ago.

Oh, yeah.

But I’m also interested in those ancient one-hitters.

Any modern vapor or pot smoker would recognize that.

Yeah, these are little bitty clay pipes.

Oh, that’s a lovely book.

It sounds wonderful.

Can we talk more about this later?

Because I have some stuff to toss in.

Oh, great.

I do, too.

It reminds me of the kind of stuff we do on the show, of course.

You know, we see that little glint in the mud and we follow an object story or a word story.

Yeah, an object has a story, connects us to history and to other people.

It is in itself interesting.

A word is interesting, but it’s part of a larger fabric, a larger culture, a larger civilization, right?

It’s not its own thing.

It’s always about context.

We’d love to hear about the hobbies and the pastimes of your life and the language that belongs to them.

We’d also like to hear about what you’re reading and any particularly beautiful passages that you think the world needs to hear.

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